A Reality Without Her
by Lina Hayashi
Summary: "You know what? Jeez, fine. We can crank up the AC. But not to max power. Understood?"


**A/N: Wow I'm neglecting my Hetalia fic for KagePro I'm amazing.**

**For the anon on Tumblr that requested KanoKido prompt #6: _Person A and Person B are trapped in a burning building where only one of them can escape._**

**Warning: Major Character Death, Dialogue-Heavy Story  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own shit. I own the plot and my laptop, at least.**

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Once again, it was sweltering hot outside (not that their hoods helped in the slightest, but still). Everyone was at the apartment of the Mekakushi Dan; Seto had no work today. They were all sprawled out every which way, most of them flocking to the air conditioning vents, the fan, or the refrigerator/freezer.

Momo and Mary occupied the fan. Konoha and Hibiya were in the kitchen, by the fridge and freezer, though Konoha was probably there to eat rather than cool down. Shintaro, Seto, and Hibiya crowded by one vent in the living room. Kano and Kido shared the other vent. Ene was watching them all through the TV, saying encouraging words once in a while. Though it was cooling them all down a bit, it wasn't enough for some of them.

Shintaro glanced at his phone in boredom. 17:26 on August 15. Not wanting to waste more battery, he tucked the phone back in his pocket.

"We're going to melt and die." Momo groaned as she flopped back onto the couch. "This has got to be the hottest weather ever."

"At least the air conditioning's working," Shintaro countered. Murmurs of agreement resonated through the walls.

"Still..." Hibiya muttered, agreeing with Momo (for once, said idol thought complacently).

Kano leaned back and smiled, Kido knowing instinctively that he was using his Eyes. "Well, we can't help the weather, can we? We'll just have to fight through it!" _'Yeah, there's no way he'd be bearing the heat,'_ she mused, too tired to punch him and deactivate the Eyes.

"What do you think I've been saying all this time to you guys, Cat Eyes-san?" Ene deadpanned from behind the screen, then grinned just as rapidly as it had gone. "Just keep on going! Fight, fight! Three hours more until sunset!" At this statement of hers, some members of the Dan groaned. "I can't last through one more" was heard. Ene huffed. "Seriously, you've lasted eight hours on low-powered AC, can't you last through three-"

"Wait. Low power?" Hibiya inquired as he gazed at the TV in realization of what the cyber girl said. Ene's eyes widened, then she looked away. "We've been going on low power for eight hours?!"

"Well, yes, but..."

"So since this wasn't max power, we can get even cooler if we crank up the AC?!" Momo interjected.

"Idiots!" Kido yelled, silencing the two. Those was the first time the green-haired girl had spoken in five hours. "The engine could overheat if we crank it up even more, especially since we've used it for, hm, I don't know, _eight hours._"

"There's no way it could, could it?" Seto offered, looking unsure of himself, but still wanting to get even cooler.

Kano threw an arm around Kido, shrugging off the glare he received. "Come onnnnnn, Kido~ We're dying in here!"

"We're surviving just fine as it is!" she declared, mostly to assure herself since she was in the hottest jacket and, hell, she could endure another three hours.

Maybe.

Probably?

"Please, Danchou?" Kano asked as he tightened his grip on her, her glare only intensifying even more. She glanced at Ene for help, but she looked too amused at what was happening (even though it was guaranteed that she probably went through the same thought process that she had in a few seconds). Damn it. Momo (almost reluctantly) abandoned her post by the fan and joined Kano in asking/begging for Kido to allow them to turn up the air conditioner. Once more, she glanced at Ene, then at the entire group, for any sort of help, but they were all too busy basking in the coolness to defend her decision or join Kano and Momo.

Konoha came back in the living room with a kebob on one hand, a bottle of water in the other, and another kebob in his mouth. "Why is there shouting?" he asked confusedly.

"Jeez, don't hog all the food and water!" Hibiya shouted at him as he snatched the water from the confused male's hand. Konoha was still oblivious to the situation but thinking about why the green-haired girl was being hugged by the blonde idol and the cat-eyed deceiver.

Wondering where the _hell_ those guys, plus Momo and Kano, got their energy from, Kido gave in and finally said, "You know what? Jeez, _fine_. We can crank up the AC. But _not to max power._ Understood?"

Momo and Kano looked surprised, though they didn't question why the girl had given in so quickly. Then the two grinned at each other and hugged Kido tighter. "Yep! Thanks, Danchou!"

Kido sighed, hoped that she didn't regret the decision. Looking around at the faces, she saw that most of them looked either relieved or amused. Or both.

Audible sighs of relief were heard when the Dan felt the slightly gradual change of temperature. Ene looked at them, bored out of her mind. It was actually pretty fun to see them complaining about the 'damn heat,' especially Master. Not that she was a sadist, but it was just pretty funny when she couldn't feel the blistering heat from the sun.

In just a half hour, most of the Dan began moving away from the fans and vents and the fridge. None of them dared to step foot outside of the base, though. All they did was talk and play video games. The usual antics. She made her way from the TV to her Master's phone again. Shintaro was the only one who decided to stay by a vent. He eyed Kano versing Kido in a first person shooter without much interest. Instead, he chose to lift his phone up and fish out his earphones.

At the same time, the air around him grew a little hotter. _'What the hell?'_ A frown appeared on his face. Something didn't seem right, but it did seem someone might have been correct. He then chose to stand up and walk over to the couch, a bored look quickly returning to his features. The room steadily grew hotter again and by then, everyone noticed it little by little. The frown reappeared.

"Master? Is something wrong, Master?" Ene asked as she looked at the raven-haired boy's frown. Shintaro sighed and looked around at the other faces, not responding to her question.

Kido let out a curse as she paused the game. She felt the heat getting to her. "Guys. I know it's feeling hotter. Isn't it?"

"Hm... yeah. It feels hotter, Kido," Kano replied as he set his controller down.

"It's overheating, then."

"Maybe," agreed Seto as he stood up. "Well, we have to go and cool it down now. Otherwise the engine's going to heat up even more."

"Eh? But there's no way we can fix it," Hibiya said.

Momo flashed a half-smile and looked to her brother. "But onii-chan's supposed to be this super genius! I'm sure he can figure out how to fix it, riiight?"

Shintaro looked incredulous as he countered, "No way!"

"At any rate," Kido interjected, eyes flashing with an unknown emotion. "There's no way it's just _'overheating'_... if we feel hotter right now."

Kido glanced around, tried not to make eye contact with anyone. It stopped at Kano, though. They locked eyes and Kido suddenly felt a bit more vulnerable. For some godforsaken reason, he was able to recognize the emotion in her eyes - _fear_ - and reply with his own - _guilt_.

In a small corner of her mind, she was happy that he wasn't using his Eyes, though.

"But... it's only been less than an hour," Mary objected.

Shintaro added, "Plus eight hours of low power."

"Shintaro-kun! We should go check," Seto declared as he grabbed the former's arm. Since Seto was pretty strong, Shintaro didn't bother to object. Ene made her way to the TV screen again, sitting right in front of the pause menu.

Kido stood up and faced the couch. "Kano. Kisaragi."

Both jumped, Kano activating his Eyes again. "Yes, Danchou?"

"You put it up to max power, didn't you," she voiced her inference. Momo let out a startled cry and nervously leaned back. Kano gave an apologetic half-smile that told her all that she needed to know. Mumbling another curse, she continued, "Let's go ahead and follow them. They'll probably need help."

Until she saw a gradually thickening layer of smoke in the air.

"Uh... no need for that," Seto said nervously.

Kido turned to look at them and her eyes widened. Shintaro and Seto had ash on their faces. Seeing even more smoke, her eyes widened even more. _'Oh no. It's happening again. It can't happen again.'_

It was another house fire for Kido.

The fire was progressing quickly. Paint chipped off the wall and support beams came down. The Dan quickly had to move out of the way. Seto instantly picked Mary up. Support beams had fallen in front of the doors and windows. "Get to the kitchen! The balcony's not a far drop!" Seto ordered as he rushed there, the others quickly following him.

Two people, however, did not follow him. One stayed behind due to a sudden panic attack. The other stayed behind to help her.

"Kido..." Kano murmured sadly as she knelt down, head in her hands. He quickly knelt down in front of her and shook her shoulders. "Kido. Kido! Come on, please. We have to get out, Kido-"

Kido ignored the blond as she shrunk further down into herself. Her thoughts enveloped her, much like the color of orange enveloped the room, the entire apartment. She knew he was right, they _had_ to get out, they _had_ to escape the apartment _right now_, but she was frozen to her spot. Usually, she didn't let the past get to her. But now that it was back... "Why..." she kept whispering quietly to herself. This went on for a few minutes until she had calmed down a bit. The fear didn't leave, but she didn't feel frozen to the spot anymore. She was about to get up until-

"-Tsubomi, look at me."

It was the voice Kano used when they were younger. When he had promised to never lose sight of her. Kido instinctively took her face out from her hands to stare into the golden eyes right in front of her. He looked scared, vulnerable. "...We won't make it out together. There's too much smoke."

"Kano..." The green-haired girl started. Then she noticed that the hands on her shoulders never left. That he never left. "...Stupid Shuuya. Why didn't you just go?" Her voice wavered as she looked away. The heat was even more blistering than it was earlier and her lungs felt like they were burning.

Even without the eyes, Kano tried to flash a brave smile to her. "I said I'd never leave Kido."

"..."

If what he said was true, then dying together in the fire was all they had left together. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his lean torso, letting a few tears escape. Kano's eyes widened, then he did the same to her.

This was it.

"...You know, I really like Kido."

"Idiot... why are you saying that now?"

"What other chance do we have, Tsubomi?"

"..."

"..."

"I... really like Shuuya too."

A support beam began crashing down towards them.

"I'm glad."

"Hey... where's Kano and Danchou?" Momo asked when they all reached the ground safely from the balcony. "They haven't gotten out of the house yet."

Seto froze in place. _'Oh no...'_ he thought worriedly. He realized multiple things, then made a private decision. His Eyes turned red.

Everyone became solemn as they stared up at the orange flames. Sirens were heard. Konoha's own Eyes began to turn red as well. "Where-"

"Don't!" Seto's abrupt cry startled the others. When they looked at him, tears were streaming down his face. Mary went over and began comforting him, realizing what he was about to say from his facial expression.

"It's too late to try."

A day later, Kano slowly woke up in a hospital bed. When he came to, he realized that the entire Dan was there and they were in a hospital. Far too costly for their financial situation. They were all asleep, so he figured he'd join them.

Days passed and he saw that the Dan was still there. Shintaro, Momo, and Seto were the only three awake this time. The other four were asleep.

"Kano!" Seto said in relief as he saw the deceiver's eyes open.

"Seto... what happened?" he asked in confusion. The last thing he remembered was hugging Kido, and then- "Wait. Where's Kido?" Suddenly, he was wide awake.

Momo jumped and started fidgeting. She replied, "When the firefighters put out the fire, they could only find your body."

It didn't make sense to him until Shintaro added after a minute, "It happened on August 15."

Slowly... slowly...

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks and his instincts activated his Eyes.

"Huh? Where'd Kano go?"

"He must have gotten her Eyes..."

Seto gently slapped what he assumed to be Kano's arm. Not enough to hurt terribly, given the circumstances, but enough to deactivate seemingly both of his Eyes. Kano was crying. "..do... Kido..." he murmured over and over.

A reality where both of them died, or where Kido lived, he'd accept.

A reality without her, though...

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**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated.**


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